Southwest states with highest insurance rates

Southwest: Land of painful extremes

Income demographics are the key to insurance pain in the Southwest. On both home and auto insurance, for example, New Mexico ranks well above California on the pain scale, even though its average expenditures are lower.

“New Mexico has the lowest median income in the country ($55,561), so its pain index is not below the national average; it’s way up in the top,” says Sullivan.

Pain states

Tame states

Auto insurance

Arizona

Nevada

New Mexico

Texas

Utah

California

Colorado

Hawaii

Home insurance

California

Colorado

New Mexico

Texas

Arizona

Hawaii

Nevada

Utah

Similarly, while Hawaii’s average home expenditure ranks 13th in the nation at $862, the Aloha State only ranks 30th in the pain index. The reason? With a median income of $91,483, Hawaiians can afford it.

What about those California earthquakes? “They’re not a factor because earthquakes (are) excluded from coverage in most homeowners insurance policies,” Baranoff says.

As for car insurance, terrain may have less to do with rates than the type of vehicles being insured.

How we make money

Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. Bankrate is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. Bankrate.com does not include all companies or all available products.